Razor blade holders



March 2, 1965 R. cARlFl RAZOR BLADE HOLDERS Filed Sept. 3, 1965 INVENTOR. RALPH CARIFI A T TOR/VEV United States Patent 3,171,201 RAZOR BLADE HQLDERS Ralph Carifi, 945' S. Orange Ave., Miiihurn, NJ. Filed Sept. 3, 1963, Ser. No. 365,952 1 Claim. (Cl. 30-335) This invention relates to novel razor blade holders. In one of its more specific aspects, the invention is directed to novel holders for single-edge backed razor blades commonly known as single edge razor blades, an example of which is the well known Gem razor blade.

The main purpose and primary object of the present invention is to provide for such blades novel and unique holders which consist of a minimum of parts which may be quickly and economically produced and assembled thereby to provide very inexpensive holders, and said holders are characterized by being of rugged construction, long life, and when razor blades are coupled therewith are safe to use, are adapted to expose cutting edges of different lengths whereby cuts of different depths may be reduced therewith and are adapted to shield completely the cutting edge of the razor blade when in inoperative position and to maintain the blade in that position, and in addition are adapted to receive a razor blade at one end thereof whereby the holder with the blade demountably coupled therewith may be used as a scraper.

The foregoing as well as other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description and drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a blank which is used to make the handle or sheath portion of the novel holder.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the handle or sheath portion of the novel holder made from the blank shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a specific embodiment of the saddle portion of the' novel holder of this invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a conventional single edge backed razor blade.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the novel holder in combination with a novel saddle and shows the blade in its originally coupled position which also is its maximum forward position for replacement if necessary.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view similar to that of FIG. 5, but with the blade being at its maximum depth-cutting position as shown in full lines.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the novel holder and saddle carrying a conventional single edge backed razor blade, with the blade being locked in the retracted safety position.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged cross sectional view taken on line VIIIVHI of FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged cross sectional view similar to FIG. 8 and shows the position of the latching means after disengagement by the application of finger pressure to the finger-piece of the depressable unit carried by the saddle.

According to thi invention, in the embodiment shown in the drawings, a sheath 35 may be easily and readily produced from a blank 10 shown in FIG. 1. The blank 10 is a fiat, rigid and bendable member of soft cold rolled steel that has been produced by appropriately cutting and slotting a short length thereof. As shown the blank it) has a pair of slots 11 and 12 in one end thereof thereby providing a pair of like tabs 13 and 14 with an intermediate tab 15 whose width is twice that of either tab 13 or 14. One side of the blank 10 is cut away along approximately two-thirds of the length thereof thereby to provide an elongated side 17 and a side 18 at right angles thereto and parallel to the three in-line sides 19, 2t, and 21 of said three tabs. The blank It) has a plurality of Fee spaced narrow slots 21, 22, 23 and 24 therein extending through the side 17. The other side of the blank 10 is cut away to provide an elongated side 25, parallel to side 17 and a short side 26 of the same length as and in line with side 18. The length of the side is less than that of side 17. The blank 10 has another short side 28 which is at right angles to the side 25 at the forward end thereof. The blank 10 has a forward side 3% at the upper part thereof which is at right angles to the side 17 and parallel to the side 21 A side 32 at an angle of about 135 to side connects sides 36 and 28.

Said blank 1%) as aforedescribed and shown in FIG. 1 may be readily, easily and inexpensively produced from a short piece of fiat soft cold rolled steel, and is now ready for forming to provide the sheath shown in FIG. 2. For that purpose, all that need be done is the following: the lower and upper marginal portions 37 and 36 respectively above and below a pair of virtual lines parallel to each other and to the sides 17 and 25 and through the apices of slots 11 and 12, are bent towards each other and over the remainder 38 thereof, with sides 33 and 34 of the blank 10 being closely adjacent each other. Thereby there are provided a pair of oppositely disposed slideways 40 and 41 between the remainder or backing member 38 and the top or marginal portions 36 and 37, and an elongated slot 43 extending through the front end thereof and formed by the shallow elongated cut-outs in the portions 36 and 37, as shown in FIG. 2. Also as shown in said FIG. 2, the front lower corner of the sheath is cut away as shown in the side 32 thereof and the lower marginal portion 3'7 is of lesser length than the upper 'marginal portion 36. The free ends of tabs 13 and 14 and the free end of the tab 15 are forced practically together at their free ends thereby to provide at that end thereof a receiver and holder for the razor blades shown in FIG. 4 whereby the device with the razor blade shown in dotted lines therein may be used as a scraper as shown in FIG. 7. p

The so formed sheath 30 has a cut away lower forward corner on the line 32 which is at about 135 to the center line of back 38 and passes through the slot 43, and the forward extremity 28 of part 37 terminates a material distance rearwardly of corresponding extremity 30.

As shown in FIG. 3, there is a specific embodiment of a saddle which is in the form of a thin metal strip 51 which is slightly bowed and is resilient, and is shorter than the sheath 35. The strip is of generally rectangular outer contour with its forward lower corner being cut away at 52 which is at an angle of about to the longitudinal center line of the strip. The upper marginal part of the forward portion thereof is pressed downwardly to provide a shallow elongated depressed way 54 for receiving one side of the backing 61 of a conventional razor blade 6t). Punched, pierced, extruded or otherwise struck out of the strip 51 and integral therewith are a pair of short hollow burr bosses 56 for insertion into the transverse recess 62 in said blade 6 Said blade 6% in the embodiment shown has a pair of oppositely disposed shallow slots 63 in the ends thereof.

Said strip 51 has an opening 68 which may be omitted and a pair of bosses 56' similar to bosses 5e,-but disposed along the longitudinal center line thereof, with the bosses 56 located therebetween. These bosses 56' are adapted to fit into the slots 63 of blade 60. Alternatively, said strip 50 may have one or both of said bosses 56 together with either one of said bosses 5 3 or it may have only said bosses 56' or only said bosses 56. The latter is the preferred embodiment because it is the most efiicient and because all of the conventional backed single edge razor blades have a recess 62 but one brand does not have the recesses 63.

Also struck out of said strip 51 and integral therewith is a finger actuable unit 57. The unit 57 comprises a stem 58 integral with strip 51 and extending upwardly therefrom at an angle of approximately 90 thereto and a short latching tab or detent 59 integral with both the stem- 58 and strip 51. The upper edge of the detent 59 terminates below the upper extremity of stem 58. Integral with the upper end of stem 58 and bent over at about 90 thereto is a finger piece 65 on which a finger may be positioned. Said finger pieces 65 is in the nature of a button on which the finger of the user may be pressed downwardly thereby to depress element 57 and thereby reduce the bowing of strip 51 and to lower the detent for the purposes hereinafter more fully set forth.

The width of the stem 58 is preferably approximately the same as the width of the slot 43 so that the edges thereof are in fairly close proximity to the edges 17 and 25 thereby aiding in the provision of a firm sliding action and held between the saddle and sheath.

In the preferential embodiment, strip 51 has a short, narrow, thin leaf spring 66 secured thereto at the rear thereof by an eyelet securing element 67. The metal spring 66 extends downwardly from the bottom face of strip 57 at an angle of about 45 thereto.

The saddle 51 of the aforesaid construction is readily coupled with and may be readily uncoupled from the sheath 35. In order to couple all that is required is to insert the rear end of saddle 50 into the mouth and slideways of sheath 35 and then merely push saddle 50 rearwardly in said sheath while maintaining finger pressure upon unit 57 thereby to maintain the upper edge of the detent below the lower face of portion 36. By this action of the finger pressure against the resiliency of the bowed strip 51 and spring 66 which may or may not be omitted, the bowing action of the strip 51 is reduced to the desired extent.

When the saddle 50 is in its maximum forward position as shown in FIG. 5, the detent 59 is located in slot 24 and automatically maintained in that latching position by the action of the strip 51 and spring 66. In this position, the bosses 56 and 56' or whichever of them are used will all be exposed and the device is ready for the acceptance of a razor blade. Generally the unit 57 is depressed and the blade is inserted into guideway 40, with the backing element thereof located in the way 54 and the bosses 56 if present will be located in the recesses 63 of the blade, the bosses 56 will be located in the recess 62 of the blade. By having only both bosses 56 or only one of said bosses 56 and the bosses 56 or only the bosses 56 extending outwardly from strip 51, I have provided elements, which upon longitudinal movement of the saddle 50, act upon the sides forming the recesses in which they are located to move said blade with said saddle. However, since the preferred embodiment of the saddle 50 has the bosses 56 omitted, such a saddle is shown in FIGS. -7 and is that employed in the description hereinafter set forth, without being liimted thereby it being obvious thatbosses 56 may or may not be omitted and that bosses 56 alone or one or more of them together with one or more bosses 56 may be employed.

Now referring to FIG. 7, the razor blade is coupled in the manner above set forth, with the bosses 56 located in the recess 62. The finger of the user is pressed downwardly on the button of depressable unit 57 and acting against the resiliency of strip 51- and spring 66 to reducing the bowing of strip 51 and to lower the detent 5? from ist operative or latching position as shown in FIG. 8, to its inoperative position as shown in FIG. 9. With said pressure maintained in said direction on unit 57 and simultaneously applying a forward force thereto by finger action, the saddle 50 and blade 60 which are firmly engaged by the sheath and especially between the backing 38 and portion 36 slide as a unit in said passageways 4t) and 41 to the position shown in FIG. 6. Then the pressure is completely released from unit 57 whereupon, due

to the resiliency of the strip 51 and the action of spring 66, the bowing of the strip increases automatically and the detent 59 snaps into the slot 23 for latching as shown in FIG. 8. In this position as shown in FIG. 6, the blade 60 is in its maximum cutting position. If a lesser depth of cutting is desired, the unit 57 is actuated as before to uniatch the detent 59 and the saddle and blade aremoved but now rearwardly. until the detent is now in registry with the slot 22 andthen is permitted to snap into slot 22 thereby to lock the saddle and blade in the new position (not shown) but in which the length of blade 60 exposed is about half of that shown in FIG. 6. When the device is not in use, the ,user depresses and actuates unit 57. to locate the detent 59 in registry with slot 21 whereupon detent 59 enters that slot thereby to latch the saddle in this position shown in FIG. 7. I term this last position the safety position for the reason that the blade is located entirely within the sheath 35 and the user is completely protected from the blade by the sheath 35. In all of these latched positions wherein the detent is in slots 21, 22 and 23 respectively, due to the preferred construction wherein the internal width of the sheath 35 is only a little greater than that of the strip 51 and because the width of the stem is preferably approximately that of the slot 43 and because the depth of tab 59 is preferably shallow and because the strip 51 and spring 66 bear against backing 38 and bow-force the blade 60 against the lower face of portion 36, the elements of this combination are held in firm relationship with respect to each other.

Also said novel combination permits easy adjustment by mere finger pressure for sliding the saddle and blade togethe in the sheath 35 from one latched position to another so that the blade may be located in replacement, maximumtcutting, medium cutting or safety position depending upon the requirement of the user.

Since certain changes may be made in the aforesaid articles and different embodiments of the invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown'in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

A holder for a conventional backed single edge razor blade having a channel backingelement extending along a longitudinal end thereof opposite the cutting edge thereof and having a plurality of recesses therein, comprising a sheath formed of a single piece of rigid and bendable sheet material whose longitudinal marginal portions are bent towards each other and over the remainder thereof to form a pair of oppositely disposed longitudinal slideways, at least a portion of thelon'gitudinal inner edges of said so disposed marginal portions being spaced from each other thereby to form an elongated slot therebetween, the longitudinal inner edge of one of said portions which defines a side of said elongated slot having therein a plurality of short and narrow slots spaced from eachother and in communication with said elongated slot, the forward free end of one of saidmarginal portions being disposed forwardly of the forward free end of the other marginal portion, the front lower corner of said sheath, which includes said other marginal portion, being cut away on a line extending through said remainder thereby to expose a corner of said razor blade when coupled with said sheath and disposed in cutting position, a strip reciprocably and slideably coupled with said sheath, with the longitudinal marginal portions of said strip disposed in said slideways, the upper marginal portion of said strip being depressed along an appreciable part of the length thereof and is adapted to receive a flange of said channel when said razor blade is coupled therewith, means struck out of, integral with and extending upwardly from said strip and adapted to be inserted through saidrecesses n said razor blade when placed in'position on said strip with a flange of said channel-in said depression, said means adapted to act against the edges of said razor blade defining said recesses therein whereby said razor blade is reciprocable with said strip, the front lower corner of said strip being cut away, a leaf spring located between said remainder and said strip and being movable in unison with said strip, one end of said spring secured to said strip, said spring extending forwardly and downwardly from said end thereof and terminating in a free end located rearwardiy of the front edge of said strip, said spring tending to force said strip towards said bent over marginal portions, means rearwardly of said first mentioned means struck out of said strip, being integral with said strip and bent upwardly therefrom, said second mentioned means comprising a latching stem, the outer end of said mentioned means is a finger actuable tab bent over at an angle to said stem, said stern having a slot therein, said stem located forwardly of that end of said spring secured to said strip, said latching stem adapted selectively to ente said short slots thereby to latch said strip at different positions, said stem extending through said elongated slot and being movable along the length of said elongated slot to vary longitudinally the position of said strip in said sheath; when said latching stem is disposed in registry with any one of said short slots and said stem is not being pressed downwardly, said latching stem will automatically be actuated outwardly by the action of said spring into said short slot to latch and maintain said strip together with said razor blade, when carried thereby, in a predetermined position; said stem being depressible by the application of finger-pressure on said tab to move said stem against the action of said spring out of said short slot and locate said slot in said stern in registry with said marginal portion having said slots therein whereby upon maintaining said pressure and forcing said stern in a direction lengthwise of said strip, said strip is slided in said guideways with said marginal portion having said slots therein being located in said slot in said latching stem to another position where said latching stem is in registry with anothe one of said short slots and upon release of pressure from said tab, said latching stem will automatically be actuated by said spring into said short slot in registry therewith thereby to latch and maintain said strip together with said razor blade, when carried thereby, in a second predetermined position, the length of said sheath being materially greater than the length of said strip whereby said strip is located within the lengthwise confines of said strip when a razo blade is carried thereby and is in inoperative position.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,018,304 10/35 Hayh-urst. 2,215,216 9/40 Gits et a1. -162 X 2,548,797 4/51 Ingwed et al 30162 3,107,426 10/63 Robinson 30162 FOREIGN PATENTS 531,248 8/31 Germany.

WILLIAM FELDMAN, Primary Examiner.

MILTON S. MEHR, Examiner. 

